Fingernail enamel containing finely ground chlorite mineral



United States Patent 3,234,007 FIN GERNAIL ENMVIEL CONTAINING FIN ELYGROUND CHLORITE MINERAL David E. Loughran and Ellen E. Longhran, both of4044 SE. Woodward St., Portland, Oreg. N0 Drawing. Filed Sept. 12, 1962,Ser. No. 223,242 1 Claim. (Cl. 167-85) This application is acontinuation-in-part of our previous application Serial No. 24,235,filed under date of April 25, 1960, and bearing the same title, whichprevious application is now abandoned.

This invention relates to enamel compositions of the type designedspecifically for use on fingernails for the purpose of producing anattractive polish surfacing, and also for producing a desirableprotective coating for the fingernails.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved enamel ofthis nature which, when applied to the fingernails, will have greaterdurability, thus producing a coating which will resist wear over alonger period.

A related object of the invention is to provide an improved fingernailenamel which, during a prolonged period of wear, will not manifest anytendency to peel from the fingernail or to flake off in spots, which isa fault found with some fingernail enamels and which fault necessitatesrenewed applications of enamel more frequently since any such spots onthe coated fingernails are very unsightly.

A similar object is to provide a fingernail enamel which will wearuniformly without peeling or chipping 01f at the tips or ends of thefingernails, which is another very common fault of other enamels of likenature. As is well known, any peeling of nail enamel from the tips ofthe nails permits other liquids gradually to enter in between theenarnel and the nail with further undesirable results.

Another object of this invention is to provide a greater wear-resistingfingernail enamel which will afford more protection to the fingernailsduring the longer period, particularly maintaining a coating serving asa protection against such chemicals or materials as are used bybeauticians or used in the household and which have injurious effects onthe fingernails, such injurious effects often being manifest in thesplitting or breaking off of the ends of the fingernails.

A further object of the" invention is to provide a more durable andlonger lasting fingernail enamel which will maintain a desirable polishluster throughout its prolonged Wear together with a surface coatingwhich will remain smooth and thus present the initial attractiveappearance of the coating for the duration of the coating.

An additional object is to provide an improved fingernail enamel which,in spite of its greater durability and greater resistance to wear, cannevertheless be removed from the fingernails with the use of ordinaryfingernail polish remover as readily and as easily as other and lessdurable enamels.

Many attempts have been made heretofore to increase the durability offingernail enamel or to improve the appearance of the same on the nailsby adding different special ingredients to the enamel for this purpose.In our efforts to achieve the above mentioned objects we tested theresults obtained with various ingredients previously suggested as wellas others, including such substances as bentonite, talc, diatomaceousearth, mother of pearl, crystalline guanine, glass, bronze and aluminumin powdered or finely ground form. Our tests showed none of theseingredients to be satisfactory for our purpose. Some of these substancesare entirely unsuitable for use as nail enamel ingredients. With some ofthe others we were able to obtain a slight increase in dura- 3,234,097Patented Feb. 8, 1966 "ice bility of the enamel but as a rule this wasobtained with sacrifice of polish luster or at the expense of a granularas Well as dull appearance, and with none of these did we achieve anyappreciable increased resistance to the peeling or chipping of theenamel on the fingernail tips. Of the above mentioned ingredientscrystalline guanine, also suggested by the prior art, proved to be thebest since it gave a little increase in durability to the enamel withoutimpairing the luster or otherwise affecting the appearance of thecoating. However, it did not reduce the tendency of the enamel to chipor peel on the tips of the nails after a short period.

In the course of our experimenting to obtain better results we madetests with other silicate minerals as added ingredients for the enameland finally we discovered that a particular type of a certain hydroussilicate mineral, known in general as chlorite, when added in finelyground form to ordinary fingernail enamel, produced quite remarkableresults, increasing the durability of the enamel three to four times,reducing the tendency to peel or chip during the period of wear, andcausing no sacrifice of the desirable luster or smoothness of thesurface coating. Specifically the particular type of the chloritemineral with which we discovered these surprising results could beobtained is a chlorite selected from the chlorite group or sub-class,which sub-class comprises penninite, clinochlore, and prochlorite. Thesomewhat unique characteristics and properties of this particular typeof chlorite, which, in our opinion, contribute largely to the unexpectedresults obtained with its use as an added ingredient in fingernailenamel, in addition to the fact that it is substantially colorless, areits softness (having a hardness of from 1 to 2.5 on the Mohs scale), itsflexibility, inelasticity and toughness. It breaks down into very thinlaminae. For example, a sheet approximately one inch square of thisparticular chlorite can have a sheet thickness of from 0.0005 to 0.0007of an inch with a relatively high tensile strength. Presumably when thisparticular chlorite is reduced to the fineness as subsequently specifiedthe resulting laminae will have even less thickness. The thin laminaeare mirror-like in their reflection of light when viewed at an angle butare transparent when viewed normal to their surface. They have indicesof refraction ranging from 1.562 to 1.650. The laminae assume a parallelorientation when immersed in a liquid and allowed to settle on a surfaceand they attach theniselves with considerable cohesion to such surfaceupon being brought to dryness. This material does not react chemicallywith the other ingredients in fingernail enamel, it is inactivechemically, and of itself has no harmful effect on the fingernails.

Thus we discovered that the previously mentioned objects could beattained by adding this particular type of chlorite mineral to ordinaryfingernail enamel. There are several known fingernail enamels with whichwe found this could be done entirely satisfactorily. One of these is theFingernail Enamel Composition described in US. Patent No. 2,195,791,issued under date of April 2, 1940, to Richard C. Peter. Another istheNail Polish as described in US. Patent No. 2,215,898 issued September24, 1940, to Robert J. Anderson. In fact, as far as we have been able todetermine, it can be used satisfactorily with any of the standardfingernail enamels now on the market.

However, it is essential in the carrying out of the invention andproperly achieving the desired objects that this particular chloritefirst be reduced to the proper fineness before being added as aningredient to the fingernail enamel. We have found that this finenessshould be such that the particles will pass through a screen of from to200 mesh. When this chlorite is ground to a fineness in which theparticles will not pass through a screen of at least 100 mesh and ismixed with the other ingredients in-fingernail enamel'the resultingcoating on the fingernails will have a tendency to appear slightly roughor grainy, and while the resulting coating will nevertheless retain ahigh polish and gloss, the grainyappear-- ance somewhat mars the effectof the coating and causes it. to 'be .less attractive. For optimumresults We have found that this chlorite should be so ground that theparticles will pass through a screen of approximately 150 mesh.Consequently we consider this the preferred fineness to which thischlorite should be reduced preparatory to being combined'with the otheringredients in. our improved fingernail enamel.

As a typical and satisfactory fingernail enamel containing the customaryfundamental ingredients and this, particular type of chlorite, thefollowing is given as an:example. We have found that the invention canbe carried out very satisfactorily with the employment of this simplefingernail enamel formula.

Percent by weight Nitrocellulose 14.4 Aryl-sulfonamide-formaldehyderesin 7.2' Dibutyl phthalate 3.6

Butyl acetate 28.18 Ethyl alcohol 6.14 Butyl alcohol Toluene 35.42Chlorite selected from the sub-class which consists of penninite,clinochlore and prochlorite and ground to a fineness so that it willpass through a screen of approximately 150 mesh 4.00

While the use-of this particular chlorite as an ingredi-' ent in thefingernail enamel increases the durability, maintains the polish luster,and prevents any tendency for the enamel coating to peeljfrom thefingernail, nevertheless,

on the other handthe use of this chlorite does not render the coatingdifi'icult to remove from the fingernails. The

r 4 use of ordinary fingernail polish remover as. commonly employed forremovingt oldenamel from 2 the fingernails, will remove fingernailenamel containing this chlorite just as in the case of enamel withoutthis chlorite ingredient.

Thus the improvements in fingernaiLena-mel herein described can beobtained bycombining this particular type of chlorite with the otherenamel ingredients without any possible disadvantagesas far as we havebeen able to ascertain.

We claim:

A fingernail enamelhaving approximately the follow-. ing composition:

Finely ground vchlorite selected from the group consisting of penninite,clinochloreand prochlorite l 4.00

References Cited by the Examiner t UNITED STATES 'PATENTS 2,814,57011/1957 Sloan 167-85 OTHER REFERENCES 3 Websters NewlnternationalDictionary, 2nd'Ed., C."

and G. Merriam Co., Springfield, Mass, 1944, pp. 472, 503,151, 1811and1973u Sagarin; Cosmetics Science and Technology, Inter sciencePublishers, New York, N.Y. (1957), pp; 678-686.

JULIAN S. LEV'ITT, Primary Examiner.

